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Topic: Pay to Park (Read 15295 times)

Mike,Your hard work is both appreciated and admired! I can't emphasize that enough! On another note there are and have been many folks working,for a long time to see it finally reach that arena. With over 2000 courses in the states, there is certainly enough room to accomodate the entire spectrum. And in the metro, if we just start this level at Smithville it can ONLY help us and our sport/community! I am excited to see us working for that, and excited that making moves like this in our sport will help champion disc golfers like KC who shot -21 out of 27 holes recently in Ocala, and only win $1250 at a so called NT. These guys sweat, bleed and cry disc golf all over the country in pursuit of the same passion we all share. The only way to compensate them adequately for their efforts/skill is to establish that corporate dollar you want kept away. When you saw that Matty O shot a -9 at cliff, you especially knew what he had to do to accomplish that. That wasn't a fluke, that was the culmination of raw talent, smart decisions, and years of traveling this country golfing. These guys deserve more and I personally believe that a pay to play disc golf center at Smithville is sweeeeet!!

hyzerponix

I do understand the positives that can come from disc golf growing into the mainstream, I'm just not sure it will outweigh the negatives. From what I've witnessed in my short time on this Earth, most anything that becomes mainstream and corporate tends to be riddled with scandal and corruption. The people at the top get to profit and call all the shots, while those not at the top are at their whim. Yes, adapt to change, or get left behind, but at the same time, fail to learn from history, and you will repeat that history. All I'm saying is be careful what you wish for. What attracts people to disc golf the most, aside from the wonderful feeling of throwing a disc through the air, is the affordability of the sport. Do you really want to see the latter go by the wayside so a few select people can get rich off of it? Again, just be careful what you wish for.

hyzerponix

Wow, you people crack me up. Greens fees at a public ball golf course are $40 a person, and you're complaining about paying $40 a year?

Parks don't mow themselves. Just watch what happens to Rosedale this year, and you'd be glad to pay to play if it got mowed ever 2 weeks....

If I lived near Smithville I would gladly pay, Chris, especially with the money going to maintain the course. But the one or two trips I might make out there in a year aren't worth it, so I guess I'll settle for paying $5 to park for my rounds there. I think it should be more like $3, and I would also pay that to play at the courses here in KC if it meant having a weekly mowing schedule and trash pickup. What that has to do with growing the sport, I'm not sure how we got on that topic, it seems to have more to do with taking care of what you already have.

at that rate ($1250 for the NT) if Kenny played 46 events, he would make over $50k this year, and be in an ok financial shape, but as the top rated player on the planet over the last 15 years, it pales in comparison to what other pro athletes make.

There is a decision, and its coming soon Mike, do we pay to have professional disc golfers or not?

I personally wouldn't mind seeing some pay to park/play courses around if it is a reasonable fee. $40 a year seems reasonable. I feel it would help keep some of the trash and undesirables off the course. However as you move toward this it is very possible that this could become the norm and become the end of the free to play course that we know and love now.

The only pay to play course that I regularly played is in Newport News, VA where I believe it was $1 per player (apparently $2 now or $20 a year). I believe the course was at a state park so it was one of the nicest parks I've played at. So really I'm torn on the idea.

Pay to play is the future. Money to keep up courses has to come from somewhere. You can usually see the difference in quality at existing pay-to-play facilities which have funds available that are being spent on course upgrades. I also like that this keeps away most vandals & litter bugs. Those who support the course generally aren't contributors to those problems.

Ghostrider

If the sport doesn't move forward it only moves backwards... All the pro sports we are trying to make disc golf into today didn't happen overnight. It took hard work from volunteers that care about the game to get them where they are at now. I personally don't think that entertainers/athletes should make the money they make, nor do I think that they should have made the money they made during the early developing stages. The one thing we need to remember is that the pay to play system isn't making the game corporate, it's just making the courses better. If the entire KC DG scene goes to a pay to play we should then look into a KC Card that allows us to pay a yearly fee to play all the courses. I would hate to be limited to playing a few courses because I'd have to get half a dozen "memberships" to different courses.

It will take years for us to be even close to the gallery sizes of the pga. Our sport shouldn't even be compared to that of other's like MLB, NFL, NBA, etc. because it's not on the same level from a spectators point of view. Fan's are the ones victimized in all of those sports, look at the cost of a single Chiefs game. Ticket prices, parking, and concessions, you can't go to a game for less than $100.Unfortunately the pga is the only mainstream sport that compares. Not sure what the costs are to watch these events, but I'm sure they aren't cheap. We need good pros to carry us to the next level, but the next level isn't going to be prime time ESPN, and it's not going to happen overnight.

Climo, Favre, Jordan, Lowe and Woods are entertainers, until they post their 1 mile running or swimming , times, i refuse to call them athletes.

^ = Ridiculous. Skying from the free-throw line to dunk the ball or maintaining perfect body control throughout a 100 mph + swing aren't moves of great athleticism? Really? Just how are we defining atheletes?